Autism Elopement

It’s been a tough week in autism world. It seems like when things can’t get worse, they somehow do.

Particularly disturbing this week was the news regarding two children with autism. One is the disappearance of an eleven-year-old girl with autism, Nadia Bloom from her Winter Springs, Florida home. Just this morning, Nadia was found after being missing for five days in a wooded area where there are reportedly ponds and a lake nearby. Children with autism tend to be attracted to water and among children who wander, drowning is the leading cause of death.

And then there’s 15-year-old Jeffrey Cooper, also missing since Sunday from his home in Boston. Jeffrey also went missing last December, but fortunately was found safe. For some children, the story does not end well.

The official term for this is “autism elopement” and it happens all over the country, every day. I know very few parents who have a child with autism who at one time or another have not had their children with autism slip away, if only for a few minutes, striking terror into their hearts.

About a year ago, when I thought we were long past the stage when Andrew was a flight risk, it happened to us. I opened the garage door to look at something in the driveway, then closed it and went about working in the kitchen. Apparently, Andrew thought when he heard the door that I had left and he was home alone. He panicked and went out the front door, though very quietly. I didn’t hear him leave. After all, he hadn’t done anything remotely like this for years, but his new awareness made him realize the garage door sound usually meant someone coming or going.

I don’t know how I knew he was out of the house, but it hit me like a freight train. I suddenly had an overwhelming feeling he was gone. I went out through the garage and saw him at the end of the street running as fast as he could around the corner, toward the exit of our neighborhood. A few seconds later and I wouldn’t have seen him, and a couple of minutes later, he would surely have been on Mason Road, a busy thoroughfare in Katy where people often drive at 50 mph in excess of the posted speed limit.

I screamed his name and chased him. When I reached him I could see he was obviously terrified. He thought he had been abandoned. To this day, every time we leave the house, we have to tell him explicitly who is in charge of taking care of him, whether it is my husband or one of his older brothers. We sometimes ask him to repeat what we’ve said so that we are sure he understands he is not going to be left alone.

There’s a program to combat wandering related injuries and deaths called Project Lifesaver. Wrist bands with transmitters are worn by children (or in some cases adults, such as those with Alzheimer’s) who are at risk of elopement. A receiver is maintained by local law enforcement who are called in an emergency so that they can locate the missing person.

The National Autism Association has a program called FOUND, a program which helps fund the Project Lifesaver program in counties around the country. But funds for FOUND are very scarce. Alternatively, communities can raise their own funds to implement Project Lifesaver. The cost of only one typical search and rescue operation often exceeds by far what the program would cost to maintain for years.

Together, I know we can find a way to get programs in every county to avoid tragic consequences for our children.